Governor vetoes funding for 'Big Brother' program

Palm Beach County sheriff reconsidering new violence prevention unit

May 20, 2013|By Ben Wolford, Sun Sentinel

Florida taxpayers won't be paying for a controversial $3.2 million plan to stem violence in Palm Beach County.

Gov. Rick Scott vetoed $1 million from the state budget that was part of funding for the county's "Violence Prevention Program," designed to encourage communities to report suspicious behavior. Now the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office says it will "re-evaluate the feasibility of going forward."

Apparently it wasn't the deluge of complaints comparing the program to Soviet spy tactics that convinced Scott to nix the budget item. Instead, he said it was too local; the whole state shouldn't pay for one county's safety.

"Funding for county staff and resources are the responsibility of local government," the governor's office said. "This very-well-intended project, while well designed, did not include clear performance standards or cost savings."

Under Sheriff Ric Bradshaw's plan, the office would establish a 24-hour hot line and a specialized mental health unit of deputies and therapists. Residents could report suspicious activity in an effort to thwart tragedies like at Sandy Hook Elementary and Aurora, Colo., whose perpetrators may have benefited from mental-health services.

It's an "innovative" idea, said Liz Downey, a mental health advocate in Palm Beach County. "To my knowledge, there is no model."

Then in April, The Palm Beach Post quoted Bradshaw saying, "We want people to call us if the guy down the street says he hates the government, hates the mayor and he's gonna shoot him." He meant that such a person might need mental-health services and should be put on a law-enforcement "radar" for threatening a public figure, a Sheriff's Office lobbyist later clarified.

But many saw this as an attempt by Bradshaw, a Democrat, to stifle government dissent. Conservatives across the state dashed off hundreds of emails to Scott, a Republican. They compared it to Big Brother and the KGB.

One Tea Party elder in Ocala told Scott: "Kill this thing before it grows like a cancer."

On Monday, the Sheriff's Office, which had previously said it would start the program with or without state funding, said it was reconsidering.

"The sheriff appreciates the fact that the Legislature saw fit to fund the program and the governor considered the program and its value before making the tough budget decision," a spokeswoman said in a statement. "Given the lack for funding, the Sheriff's Office will re-evaluate the feasibility of going forward, and continue with existing programs to combat violence in the community."

Already, the Sheriff's Office has asked for $40 million more in its next budget for raises and equipment upgrades, an 8 percent increase on the agency's nearly half-billion dollar allocation. Whether it happens will be up to the County Commission. How it's spent is up to Bradshaw.

"It's a substantial increase," County Administrator Robert Weisman said.

Neither the Sheriff's Office nor the governor's office would say whether public backlash had anything to do with their respective decisions.